No. 1 Louisville stayed very much on-brand with an aggressive, opportunistic defensive effort it rode to a 62-50 win over No. 3 Michigan on Monday in the Wichita Region final. The Cardinals, making their fourth straight appearance in the Elite Eight, are going to their fourth Final Four and first since 2018.
After entering the game leading the women’s NCAA tournament in steals and forced turnovers, Louisville got Michigan to cough up the ball 22 times and notched a total of 15 steals. Hailey Van Lith, Louisville’s standout sophomore guard who led the team this season at 14.3 points per game, scored 22 against Michigan, giving her at least 20 for the fourth time in as many NCAA tournament contests.
Senior forward Emily Engstler, the Cardinals’ second-leading scorer, had a poor shooting night Monday and finished with five points, but she made major contributions with 16 rebounds, four assists and six steals. Senior guard Chelsie Hall had four steals and 15 points.
Naz Hillmon, Michigan’s all-American forward, scored 18 points and piled up 11 rebounds to lead her squad. Freshman guard Laila Phelia added eight points, but on 4-of-17 shooting, while junior guard Maddie Nolan came off the bench to score nine points.
The Cardinals’ defensive style also resulted in 17 personal fouls to 12 for the Wolverines, resulting in a 15-7 edge for Michigan in free throws made. The Big Ten team also had an 36-30 advantage in rebounding but it hit just 3 of 14 shots from beyond the arc, compared to 5 of 15 for Louisville.
Michigan, which had never before made the Elite Eight, could draw some consolation from the fact that it gave Louisville a much sterner test than in December, when the Cardinals rolled to a 22-point win at home.
Louisville advances to a Final Four matchup with South Carolina, the tournament’s top overall seed. The other national semifinal will feature Connecticut, which needed two overtimes to defeat North Carolina State earlier Monday, against defending NCAA champion Stanford.
